Category: house (Page 2 of 8)

Just a little update on some continued progress on getting the house more livable…

Great Room/Kitchen

Here’s a towel rack underneath the kitchen sink:

And a paper towel holder I found laying around here:

These are the cabinets we decided to go with for flatware and cookware. We wanted something enclosed to help keep dust off of it all. We hope to add one or two more:

And then something similar for the great room as a utility cabinet. We hope to add one or two more here as well:

Bathroom

We moved into the bathroom some of the things we’ve had sitting around just waiting for this time. The sink cabinet we bought at a yard sale, and the water from the red water container that has a spigot just goes into a bucket, much like the kitchen sink:

And a towel rack here too:

Front Closet

This is the front closet between the great room and library, and now we can hang our longer, cold-weather clothing here:

Porch Swing

As I mentioned in our blog post on our wood burning cook stove, Sue and my parents have been very supportive of us in living out here, and one set of parents bought us the very nice porch swing! It has gone from being in the barn for years, to being in the bathroom in the house, and with starting to try to get the bathroom in order, rather than just move it to under the house in pieces, I thought I should just put it together. Sadly, I’m not sure why I didn’t just put it together sooner. I still can’t believe the mice didn’t destroy the cushions and pillows while in the barn.

But, here it is in process of being built, with the frame done. It’s very well made and solid:

And then complete!

And the test run in our work grubbies! 🙂 It’s a very nice porch swing, and thank you to the parents again for getting this for us!

This was a walking stick that decided to hang out with us. Maybe it was waiting for a ride! 🙂

Once again, we are thankful to the Lord for providing these resources, and thanks again to those who are helping make all this possible!

— David

The Lord has granted some more progress on the house, more internal furnishings to be able to continue the “move in” process!

Here are some clothes hanging rods for the bedroom closet. I used adjustable-length metal rods, and double stacked them for my clothes:

And then extended the top rod to allow for Sue’s dresses:

Also, we put up our first shelves in the pantry!

Once again, we are thankful to God for allowing these things. We always pray the house will be a place where His glory is brought forth, in our lives and through those in the community.

— David

The Lord granted we be able to continue on the house…

We added siding to the main entry closet:

And then the bedroom closet:

And we put in the the bedroom screen door:

And with those, that’s basically all of the major indoor construction complete! Wow.

We thank God for granting this by His graces, and thanks much to those who are making this possible!

— David

We are grateful to the Lord to be able to continue on the house!

After starting on the rest of the bedroom siding, we were able to finish the other cross wall on the east side:

And then it was off to the library. This is the north wall:

And west wall:

And looking back toward the bedroom:

And with that, the visual internal siding is done! Yippee!!

I was able to continue down the middle section of the house, where the bathroom was from last time, and now this time adding the pantry siding:

And finally, I was able to add our second screen door, this time on the kitchen door, now adding some more cross breeze!

Again, we thank God for allowing these provisions for the home, and again we pray it is a place where people meet for the glory of His name! Thanks again to those who are making the house building possible!

— David

Just a quick update that the Lord has graciously granted we be able to continue some work on the house!

We added window sills for the kitchen:

And some siding for the bathroom, which is between the kitchen and bedroom. This is the nook side, facing west:

And this is the main bathroom area:

And we have been able to add some more bedroom siding, here on the north wall:

As always, we are very grateful to God for granting the resources and physical strength to be able to continue on the house!

— David

Kitchen Counter Endcaps

After the kitchen counter top was in place, I still needed to finish the endcaps.

They come in a kit, with a couple of wood pieces to attach to fill out the side, and then the laminate pieces with some kind of heat-activated glue on them.

I attached the wood pieces with a finish nailer:

And then you’re supposed to iron on the laminate pieces, keeping the iron at a certain temperature…a little difficult when the iron you have has to be heated up on a stove. 🙂 :

Unable to get a good temperature, I think even too hot to where the glue wouldn’t stick, I ended up just tacking them down with pin nails, which at least for me, I can’t even see:

Then, you’re supposed to file down the edges flush to the counter top:

And here they are done! I also caulked around the edges just to make sure moisture is kept out as much as possible:

Bedroom/Library Internal Siding

We’ve also been able to continue with the internal siding. On to the bedroom:

And then the library:

We’ve also found a new place for the piano: out of the summer kitchen and into the library — hopefully it will be a better temperature environment for it, and hopefully fewer mice will make it a home now 🙂 :

And now, all of the internal siding on the external walls, except for the two closets, are done!

Fellowship Hats

And finally, one of the major reasons we are out here is for the close Christian fellowship. Here is a pleasing sign of one of those times, as we’re gathered together, and we are honored to be able to have those times here:

We are always very grateful to the Lord for granting continued progress on the house, and thanks again to those who make that possible, and we are most thankful to be able to live amongst people who seek Christ and desire to be full of His graces!

— David

With the kitchen siding in place, it was time to install the kitchen counter and sink.

Kitchen Counter Top

I decided to go with a pre-formed laminate one as it was going to be easier, more cost effective, and I believed better quality than if I were to try to make one myself.

Sue had decided she didn’t want permanent cupboards below the counter top, so my plan was to build bracing that attached to the wall studs, and this is what I came up with. There is a cross 2×4 attached to the wall studs, then the counter top braces extending from the wall on top of that, and then diagonal braces from the top brace to the wall stud:

For the corner, I just put braces across from back board to back board:

Once the bracing was completed, I tied the corners together with glue and the provided nuts and bolts in the pre-cut areas:

Here are the screws I decided to use to tie down the counter top to the top braces. They have a larger, flat head that I hoped would help pull the counter to the brace:

I had Sue sit on the counter and push down to get the counter to set against the top braces while I screwed it down, and here is the counter tied down to a brace:

And here is the counter top installed!

Kitchen Sink

We decided to go with a stainless steel kitchen sink, to be placed between two braces. When I initially measured, it appeared it was going to fit nicely, but I eventually ran into some issues…

When cutting on a laminate top, you’re apparently supposed to put tape down to help keep the laminate from cracking as you cut:

Then, you lay the sink down upside down, trace around it, then draw a cut line inside the trace line, the width according to the instructions that come with the sink:

I used a jig saw with laminate blade to cut out the main section:

Then used a coping saw for the back part as I couldn’t get close enough with the jig saw to the back cut line:

One issue I ran into was the sides of the hole ended up going over the bracing, and so I used a skill saw set to counter-top depth to make the initial cut of the sides, and then needed to chisel out the rest:

And here is a side completed:

Sadly though, on the right side, I apparently didn’t chisel down far enough in the corner, and it slightly cracked up the laminate. I ended up just gluing it and caulking it, which appears to have worked ok:

Another problem I ran into was that the sink tubs wouldn’t fit completely between the braces, so I needed to cut off a little of the brace siding:

And then, another issue was how to clamp the sides of the sink to the counter top. For that, I drilled holes and chiseled out a hole in the brace, and enough underneath to reveal some of the counter top so the clamp would have something to grab on to. You can see here at the top of the hole a little of the counter top exposed. Given the design of the brace, I could only really use one clamp on the sides even though you’re supposed to use two — I just hope that ends up being enough 🙂 :

Once all cutting, etc. was complete, I put down the caulk bead:

And then placed the sink in place, and clamped it down in a star-like pattern, starting from the inside clamps outward according to the directions:

And then I added more caulking from the outside, stuffing it under any slight gaps between the sink and counter top, and then tried to smooth it all out. And I put a couple of jugs of water to try to help keep pressing it down with the caulking cures:

To finish, I put in caps with caulking to plug the faucet holes:

And added the plumbing, which we plan to run into a bucket, at least for now:

So far after several days of the caulk around the sink curing, without using it yet, it seems to have sealed up. I guess we’ll know more over time and usage. 🙂

Birdhouse 2

Last but not least, young Abram Stonger made us another birdhouse, and here it is in place. Thanks to you, Abram, and a fine job!

And both birdhouses from the boys:

As always, we are grateful to the Lord for granting the resources, designs and abilities to continue to work on the house! We always pray our place will be one of worship to Him!

— David